Live Music ONLY! Turkmenbashi has been having a cultural field day today. First he banned lip syching and then went on to ban recorded music. This is hot on the heels of his banning opera and ballet, all in the effort to prevent negative influences upon (what's left of) Turkmen culture. That, or he is trying to help eradicate Ashlee Simpson's alleged career....

A English guinea pig farm has closed recently following six years of harassment, including the theft of a relative's remains, all by animal activists. Photos and reactions. more inside

Political Fashion Monkey: "In South and Latin America each nation has its own 'Presidential sash', usually featuring the country's national colors and symbols. The Presidential sash is a symbol of the continuity of government, and when the old president resigns, the same sash is passed on to the new President." ... I wish our president wore a sash.

Database of cat names. Plus a random cat name generator, in case you're too lazy to come up with your own. more inside

Forget land, just get yourself a piece of bottom. From the front page: There are basically two groups in America. Group one, their life revolves around four dollar cups of coffee, taxis cabs, blue suits, high heels, conference rooms and getting ahead at all costs in the corporate world. If you fall into this group you're probably in the wrong place. Group two, enjoys blue skies, wide open spaces, raising animals, appreciating nature and are generally friendly to everyone. This group makes up Americas Heartland. This is not a geographic area, this is a slice of America with traditional values, that all started with the farmer.

The end of Portadownnews.com After four and a half years of its (sometimes) weekly web edition, the always hilarious Portadown News has been decommissioned (the editor has got a better job). Always taking an impartially scathing view of the goings-on in Northern Ireland, the News' editor Newton Emerson left behind his cracking satires of Ian Paisley, St Patricks Day, Gerry Adams and his "distant" links to terrorism, police inaction, and factional infighting. You might not get all the jokes, but it helped us have a good laugh at how ridiculous this place is.

Pfft... Yeah, it's on 5th and 82nd, but the windows all face North... Lenny Kravitz is in negotiations to buy the last privately-held mansion left on Millionaire's Row, for a paltry fifty mil. (There goes the nieghbourhood...) According to this, he's having problems getting rid of his current pad -- no doubt, people are scared of the Courtney Love cooties in the ventilation. But this brings to mind two questions: 1) How did Lenny Kravitz ever earn fifty million through recycling, and 2) where would you want to live for fifty mil? more inside

In the Name of Jesus Wipe them out... more inside

The iArm - when cybernetic body parts become available - and they will - if they become more efficient than the organic parts they replace - and they will - would you 'upgrade' a bit of yourself? If so, which bit? Introducing the new iArm. The world's fastest, most powerful body upgrade. MOVIE Requires QUICKTIME Seen at The Presurfer

Curious George: Music Rights How to get them for a low-low budget short film more inside

Amazon to e-publish short stories. And readers can read them, for 49 cents a pop. more inside

Curious George: I hate my fucking professors. Help me fix a software problem without having to reinstall Windows, IF YOU DARE. Tremendous, gut-wrenching sob story inside. more inside

Spacing, a magazine covering Toronto's urban space. The archives yield a number of short essays on a variety of subjects. The monthly photoblog also has some nice stuff.

Engadget: 1985 A page from the venerable Engadget BBS service from 20 years ago today.

Curious George: Science Gone Amok? An editorial in my local daily paper this weekend used the idea of Roe v. Wade's "original intent" (i.e., they thought abortion would only be used in emergencies) vs. how it turned out (according to the writer, it is now the defacto method of birth-control among the easily villified lower classes) to launch into a diatribe about how we can't trust scienists with stem cell research, because we know we can't count on them not to take the "next step", leading to a nightmare world of science gone mad. Now, regardless of your stance on abortion rights, I was wondering--how many real cases can you think of where science has, in fact, gone amok? more inside

Kittens from clones! Wildcat clone kittens at that. We're all doomed more inside

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Going to Burning Man? ? more inside

Absurd.org. Absurdity finally has a website. You will go here, and wish to tear out your eyeballs, scream, and rool on the floor. You will feel your braincells committing hari-kari. The creators of the site even have a mission statement: "this page(s) serve(s) as a vehicle for our own criticism of the modern technology in the specific area of profanation commonly known as "web design", proving us as an established champions of visual destruction and textual deformation, true möngers of the real[Dimension HÄtrÖss]." more inside

Addicted George: Hi, my name is stripe and I'm addicted to the internet. more inside